DEFINING PROBLEMS. SHAPING SOLUTIONS . - School of Social Service ...

a d v o c a t e s ’ f o r u m
Cultur al Districts and the
Potential for Urban Development
By Sean Thornton
School of Social Service Administration
University of Chicago
Abstract
This paper explores districts designed to organize a city’s cultural and arts communities and
facilities. It further outlines some fundamental policy recommendations for community
leaders undertaking such cultural district planning. Such planning policies cannot be
uniformly produced across cities; they instead require careful preparation to accommodate
the unique attributes of a specific urban area and its population. Furthermore, cultural
districts can create disproportionate economic and social effects for residents of varying
socioeconomic groups—in particular, low-income groups that may have unequal access
to any benefits from cultural economic development. In order for a cultural district to
fulfill its predetermined goals, it must garner support from local investors, businesses,
culture and arts communities, and community residents who may benefit economically,
educationally, and recreationally from its development.
Cultural economist Walter Santagata (2002, 12) defines a
metropolitan cultural district as “a spatial agglomeration of
buildings dedicated to performing arts, museums, and organizations which
produce culture and related goods, services and facilities.” Cultural districts
are sites where planning creates conditions primarily for economic activity
and may cover vast swaths of a city or a just a few city blocks. Planning
may emerge from public policymakers, private developers, or both; it
may be the product of a short period of time or develop more slowly over
a longer decision-making process. These districts may attract artists and
artisans or consumers of culture, such as tourists or the general public.
A key feature of the cultural district is the interdependency of its
constituent parts. Cultural institutions situated close to one another
are thought to generate greater economic development and growth as a
collective rather than if they operated independently. The networking
propensity of a cultural district—as an environment ripe for cultural
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